In the hallway of the Franco Center, a federal, low-income housing project, James Lee Johnson pulled up his shirt to show red welts across his stomach.

“That’s bed bugs,” he said. “It itches constantly.”

Johnson said he and other residents have been upset for months. But he admitted that many people, recently homeless, are afraid to speak out.

“You get kicked out of here, you’re going out on the streets, because you can’t get into private senior housing,” Johnson said.

In a third-floor apartment, Linda Guinn showed KCRA 3 a bedroom that she claimed had been treated for insects on Wednesday.

On her mattress were a cluster of reddish bed bugs, all alive and moving.

She held up a pillow with red stains.

“This is blood from the bed bugs,” Guinn said.

From a plastic bag, she pulled out a sheet she was about to throw away.

In one section, there were several active bed bugs.

Guinn, 65, said because of the problem, she cannot have family visit, with her young granddaughter.

“When she came here, they bit the hell out of her -- and I won’t let her come back,” she said.

The Franco building has 110 units for low-income seniors, many of whom were previous living on the streets.

The housing is managed by the Housing Authority of San Joaquin County.

Alan Coon, an attorney for the agency, said an eradication effort last August seemed successful after the building passed a federal inspection in December.

“We had gotten rid of the bed bugs, and so it got re-infested,” Coon said. “We do have turnover, and we have people bringing people in, friends, maybe homeless, spending the night or just the day visiting – that could bring it in.”

Coon said some residents, who have complained about bed bugs, are being evicted for breaking rules designed to help prevent such problems.

The authority has pledged to immediately hold tenant meetings and bring in professional exterminators.

"If we have to spray the entire building again, and heat treat the entire building, we’ll do that,” Coon said.

Housing managers point out that the majority of residents are not complaining of insect problems.

However, they admit that small infestations are likely to spread and require immediate attention.

Regina Rucker said she’s had to replace the furniture in her elderly mother’s Franco apartment three times in the past 12 months because of the infestations.